Write a policy recommendations paper on your policy topic (covid-19). In the paper, you will make three-four recommendations for policy reform at the California state level.
Format: The paper should be 3 pages single spaced, 11 or 12-point font, 1-inch margins. Support your argument throughout with evidence from academic articles, policy institute (think-tank) reports, public opinion polling, and/or news media; some useful resources are listed below. Try to rely on non-partisan, unbiased sources. If you have questions about a source, contact a TA. Use parenthetical citation; this is where you include the author or authors last name(s) and the publication date, as well as the page number if from a book or report, in parentheses at the end of the relevant sentence within the body of the paper and then the full citation in the bibliography at the end of the paper. I recommend using APA style for citations (See https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/journal-article/ for details and examples). The bibliography does not count towards your page limit.
The following is a template to help organize your paper.
Title: Clear title that communicates paper content.
Student ID: Do not write your name on the paper. Use your student ID.
Subject: Policy topic area, i.e. Covid-19 crisis relief, housing, criminal justice, prekindergarten to high school education, or water regulation
Introduction: Introduce the topic of the paper. Briefly summarize the need for reform based on the problems identified in the issue framing paper. End with a sentence or two that transitions to a bulleted list of your recommendations. In these sentences, you should identify the key goals of policy reform. Then, you want to list your recommendations:
Recommendation One
Recommendation Two
Recommendation Three
If possible, begin each recommendation with an active verb. Be concise; you will explain your recommendations in the body of the paper. As an illustrative example, here is a list of policy recommendations for health reform from an AMA policy brief:
To make the ACA more affordable for individuals and families, the AMA is advocating to:
Expand eligibility for tax credit offsets to premiums to five times the federal poverty level.
Provide enhanced tax credit offsets to young adults while retaining the ACAs current formula, which is inversely related to income.
Fix the family glitch while lowering the threshold that determines whether an employees premium cost is affordable, which affects subsidies to buy coverage on health insurance exchanges.
Support efforts at the state level to expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
Recommendations can replace, extend, or reverse provisions in existing policy. Aim for three to four recommendations. Draw upon the three bills that you discussed in the issues framing and political analysis papers. These proposals are the ones that are being debated in California today; they are the reforms most likely to be passed in the California State Legislature. You can either recommend key provisions of one bill only or provisions from multiple bills, and you may revise these provisions however you see fit. You do not want to recommend reforms that have not been discussed in your previous papers since presumably it is not a proposal that the legislators have given serious consideration.
End the introduction with a paragraph that introduces the main body of the paper. This is a transition sentence.
Body of the paper
You will begin the paper by explaining your recommendations in greater detail. I suggest that for each recommendation, you start by repeating the recommendation in bold and then go on in a paragraph or two to describe the policy in greater detail. If it helps, imagine that this brief will be read by many state legislators and their staff, some of whom may not be familiar with this specific policy area. However, you can assume that the reader will understand how California State Legislature works and the legislative process in general.
After clarifying your recommendations, the remaining text in the section should argue for why these recommendations are necessary to improve existing policy. You want to explain how it will improve policy in terms of the three criteria of effectiveness, efficiency and equity as they relate to your policy goals. Support your argument with evidence. Keep in mind that not all recommendations have to be equally effective, efficient and equitable. Rather your recommendations should work together to balance these criteria.
Lets consider the example of class-size reduction in California. One reason why class-size reduction failed was because legislators did not include provisions to ensure equitable distribution of resources across school districts. Districts were given incentives to reduce class-size, but these incentives were not adjusted based on the ability of districts to build new classrooms and hire qualified teachers. In this instance, a set of policy recommendations could have been:
Increase overall funding for class-size reduction in California
Target a portion of funds for construction of classrooms in overcrowded school districts.
Provide bonuses to teachers willing to teach critical subjects in disadvantaged schools.
Together, one could argue that these policy recommendations would be effective at reducing class-size for all districts in California, and not just for the most advantaged schools.
Finally, you must address the issue of political feasibility. I would advise against recommending policy reforms that have no chance of passage. In your political analysis paper, you considered the chances of each proposal for passage in the current legislative session. You do not necessarily need to recommend the proposal that you felt had the greatest likelihood of passage, but you should be aware of your recommendations chances and address this point in the paper.
Often politicians must choose between pursuing a path of incremental or large-scale policy change. The ACA is an example of incremental policymaking at the federal level. The ACA took an incremental approach to health care reform by building on existing policy and trying to fill in the gaps. On the other hand, progressive legislators in Congress who advocate for a single-payer system are pursuing largescale change. They are likely aware that such reform has little chance of passing in the next Congress, but their goal is to influence the long-term debate and hopefully increase public support over time in favor of a single-payer system. In practice, incremental change is almost always the winning strategycertainly this has been the case in healthcare. But every once in a while, policies that were once considered impossible to pass become possible. This is the case with the DREAM Act. When it was first introduced in 2001, most believed it had no chance of passage. Today, passage is a realistic prospect (you would have to provide evidence of this statement in your paper if you make this argument). This increase in popularity is due to the continued efforts of the bills supporters to introduce the bill in every Congress and raise public awareness of the issue.
Your paper must provide an overall strategy for passage (whether that is in the short or long term) for your recommendations. You must be realistic in your expectations. I encourage you to draw on your political analysis paper for evidence and insight into the prospects for passage for your policy recommendations.
End the paper with a brief conclusion summarizing the main points of the paper.
A non-exhaustive list of useful resources:
Citizens guide to the legislative process at the Capitol Museum website.
Legislative Analyst’s Office
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) provides independent, nonpartisan analysis, research, and advice to the Legislature on fiscal and policy issues. The LAO was established in 1941 to reduce the cost of state government and increase its efficiency through independent oversight and review of the state’s programs and financing. The LAO assists Members of the Legislature through its work on the state budget, by responding to ad-hoc requests for research and analysis from the Members, and by publishing independent reports focused on solving problems in state government today.
California Research Bureau
The California Research Bureau (CRB) within the California State Library provides nonpartisan, confidential research to the Governor’s Office, members of both houses of the Legislature, and other state constitutional officers.
Senate Office of Research
The Senate Office of Research (SOR) develops public-policy initiatives for the California State Senate.
Find Policy: The organization allows you to search reputable think-tanks for policy analysis on a variety of topics. In public policy, the list of institutions includes: the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Brookings, Cato, Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, International Institute for Economics/Peterson, National Bureau for Economic Research (NBER), New America Foundation, RAND, the Urban Institute, and the Kaiser Family Foundation (heathcare)
There are a few think-tanks that focus primarily on California Policy, including the Public Policy Institute of California, the California Budget and Policy Center, the Turner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies,
HeinOnline: A resource for legal scholarship. You can look here for insight into the legal history and perspective of your policy area.
JSTOR: Full-text articles from peer-reviewed social science journals.
Pew Research Center: US-national level public opinion polls and report briefs summarizing Pew poll results.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, IPOLL database: US-national level public opinion polls dating back to 1935 from a variety of sources.
Potential news media sources: LA Times, Sacramento Bee, Capital Public Radio, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and NPR.
How to access online restricted-use resources
UC Davis students have access to many online academic articles and newspapers. When you are logged i on campus, access is automatic. You will have to download the library VPN client if you would like to read them off campus. Instructions for how to access this material are on the UC Davis Library: https://www.library.ucdavis.edu/service/connect-from-off-campus/. If you have trouble, please contact a librarian for help.
